HOMEBREW Digest #5492 Sun 01 February 2009

FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
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Contents:sugar ("Bill & Sara Frazier")Aluminum kettle (Fred Scheer)How much increase in alkalinity as CaCO3 should 1ppm CaCO3 cause ? (Kai Troester)Sugars ("A. J. deLange")11th Annual UKG Drunk Monk Challenge (John Kleczewski)
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Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2009 00:14:19 -0600
From: "Bill & Sara Frazier" <bsfrazier at att.net>
Subject: sugar
A desire for sugar syrups for use in beer has been mentioned the last few
days. I noticed on the More Beer and Northern Brewer web sites Belgian
sugar syrups for sale...evidently new products for the home brewer.
However, the syrups are currently out-of-stock. These may be interesting to
use instead of plain table sugar.
Bill Frazier
Olathe, Kansas USA
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Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2009 18:55:12 +0000 (UTC)
From: Fred Scheer <fredscheer07 at comcast.net>
Subject: Aluminum kettle
HI:
A friend of mine got some time ago one of
this Turkey Fryers, 30 qt, Aluminum.
Now, he made fish fry in there three times.
He cleaned it very well, I can't see any
spots in the kettle.
I have no experience in homebrewing in Aluminum
kettles. Any advise is appreciated?
Cheers,
Fred
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Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2009 18:44:31 -0500
From: Kai Troester <kai at braukaiser.com>
Subject: How much increase in alkalinity as CaCO3 should 1ppm CaCO3 cause ?
A few weeks back I decided to write another brewing water calculation
spread sheet. The formulas were mostly taken from the literature and
existing spread sheets. Then I decided to add a cation (positively
charged ions) to anion (negatively charged ions) balance check just to
see if the water profile that I created made sense. This is when I
noticed an imbalance when creating brewing water from scratch by using
distilled water and salts. The resulting water should not show an
imbalance and every cation should have matching anion. But it was
showing an imbalance when chalk was used. So I gave the fomulas used
for chalk a closer look.
And found that 1 mol (a unit that is proportional to the amount of
molecules/ions of a particular substance) of CaCO3 was assumed to add
one mol of bicarbonate to the water. And that in most spreadsheets and
calculators the bicarbonate contribution was later used to calculate
the alkalinity as CaCO3. But that didn't seem right. If CaCO3 adds
only one bicarbonate, it also needs to add one hydroxyl ion (OH-):
(1) CaCO3 + H20 -> Ca2+ + HCO3- + OH-
Since this would liberate hydroxyl the pH of the water would need to
rise. If that is not happening then chalk can also be dissolved in the
presence of CO2
(2) CaCO3 + H2O + CO2 -> Ca2+ + HCO3- + HCO3-
In this case each mol of chalk would add 2 moles of bicarbonate. Yet
another reaction is possible in the presence of acid and free protons
(3) CaCO3 + H+ -> Ca2+ + HCO-
(4) HCO- + H+ -> H2O + CO2
If neither of these reactions hapen the chalk won't dissolve. And that
is clearly happening in brewing: If you add chalk to the brewing water
it just turns the water cloudy and it will eventually settle.
But does it really matter if the chalk dissolves or not? No. Because
the bigger picture is that we added the chalk to give the water+chalk
mixture more "alkalinity" I.e. acid buffering capacity. That acid
buffering capacity is needed to reach a targeted mash pH once the
malt, and with it acid buffers, has been added. At that point
reactions (3) and (4) can take place. Whichever reaction is happening
(1)..(4), chalk can neutralize 2 equivalents of acid and for all
intents and purposes 1 ppm of chalk should therefore raise the
alkalinity by 1 ppm as CaCO3.
But that is not what most water treatment spreadsheets assume. They
assume that 1 mmol/l CaCO3 adds 1 mmol/l HCO3- (bicarbonate) which
drops one negative charge on the floor and caused the imbalance that I
noticed. And then they go ahead and convert the ppm HCO3- to
alkalinity as ppm CaCO3 by multiplying with the factor 50/60. In the
end the addition of 1 ppm CaCO3 raises the alkalinity by only 0.5 ppm
as CaCO3. This certainly seems wrong and I thought I had it all
figured out until I decided to confirm this theory with an experiment.
The experiment is seemingly simple. Make small mashes with 3 different
waters that are supposed to have the same residual alkalinity and test
their pH. The first water (A) would be reverse osmosis water and serve
as the control. The second water (B) would be reverse osmosis water
with chalk and calcium chloride added such that the added residual
alkalinity is 0 if the chalk contributes 2 alkalinity equivalents. The
3rd water (C) has chalk and calcium chloride added such that the added
residual alkalinity is 0 if chalk contributes only one alkalinity
equivalent. Whichever water that causes a mash pH to match the RO
water mash pH the closest would have used the correct formula for
alkalinity contributions by chalk. Here is a summary of the waters used:
* water A: reverse osmosis tap water
* water B: RO water + 80 ppm CaCO3 + 290 ppm CaCl2*2H2O; this
increases the Ca2+ content by ~110 ppm
o if 1ppm CaCO3 adds 1 ppm alkalinity as CaCO3 then the
water's residual alkalinity (RA) increases by 0.0 over the RO water's RA
o if 1 ppm CaCO3 adds 0.5 ppm alkalinity as CaCO3 then the
water's RA decreases by 2.2 dH (German Hardness) or 40 ppm as CaCO3
* water C: RO water + 150 ppm CaCO3 + 150 ppm CaCl2*2H2O; this
increases the Ca2+ content by ~110 ppm
o if 1ppm CaCO3 adds 1 ppm alkalinity as CaCO3 then the
water's residual alkalinity (RA) decreases by ~4.4 dH or 80 ppm as CaCO3
o if 1 ppm CaCO3 adds 0.5 ppm alkalinity as CaCO3 then the
water's RA remains unchanged compared to the RO water
200ml of each water were taken and heated to ~64C in the microwave.
Then 50g of crushed pilsner malt were added to each water sample and
stirred in. The mashes were occasionally stirred and a 15ml sample was
taken from each mash after 5 min and cooled to 22C when it was
measured with a pH meter. The results were surprising:
* mash A : pH = 5.76
* mash B : pH = 5.69
* mash C : pH = 5.77
According to these results the chalk added only 0.5 ppm alkalinity as
CaCO3. And the pH shift for mash B is even in the range that would
have been expected from the 2.2 dH RA drop. According to Kolbach the
shift is 0.03 pH units for each dH which would be 0.066 and the
results show ~0.07.
I couldn't believe it and started to ponder why that would be the
case. Why is the added CaCO3 only neutralizing 1 equivalent of acid
and not 2? Maybe it has something to do with the chalk not being
dissolved.
So I conducted another similar experiment. This time between a
control, water with suspended chalk and water with dissolved chalk.
The chalk would be dissolved with CO2 which is brought into solution
through shaking. Here is what I did. I added 0.24 g chalk and 0.88g
calcium chloride to 1.5 l of reverse osmosis water. This is twice the
salts added to water B in the previous experiment because I wanted to
pronounce the effect of the residual alkalinity difference. I then
shook this water and the added salts in a 2l soda bottle until the
calcium chloride was dissolved. Immediately after shaking, without
giving the chalk a chance to settle, I poured off 200ml for sample B.
I then removed another 300ml in order to increase the head space. This
headspace was then filled with CO2 and the bottle closed. When I
started shaking the bottle, it immediately contracted which was a sign
of the CO2 going into solution. After some shaking I let the bottle
sit until the water became crystal clear again. This was not the
result of the chalk settling but it being dissolved in the water. I
then took 200ml of that water for samle C:
* water A: reverse osmosis
* water B: RO + 160 ppm CaCO3 + 580 ppm CaCl2*2H2O
o RA = -4.4 dH or 80 ppm alkalinity as CaCO3 if chalk adds
1 alkalinity equivalent
o RA = 0 dH or 0 ppm alkalinity as CaCO3 if chalk adds 2
alkalinity equivalents
* water C: water B + CO2
o RA = -4.4 dH or 80 ppm alkalinity as CaCO3 if chalk adds
1 alkalinity equivalent
o RA = 0 dH or 0 ppm alkalinity as CaCO3 if chalk adds 2
alkalinity equivalents
I then heated both samples to 68C, added 50g crushed pilsner malt to
each and rested (with occasional stirring) them for 10 min. After that
I took 15 ml samples and cooled them to 20-21C:
* mash A : pH = 5.67
* mash B : pH = 5.47
* mash C : pH = 5.66
So it appears that dissolving the chalk in the mash water changes its
alkalinity potential. undissolved chalk has less alkalinity potential
than dissolved chalk since mash B showed a much lower mash pH which
could only have been the result of a lower RA than the 2 other mashes.
But why is this? Does not all the chalk dissolve in the mash as
commonly assumed? And if yes why is that? And would it always be 50%?
Shouldn't there be enough acid for this to happen via reactions (3)
and (4)?
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Date: Sun, 01 Feb 2009 09:37:56 +0000
From: "A. J. deLange" <ajdel at mac.com>
Subject: Sugars
Despite having retired I find myself sitting on the patio of a hotel
in Mauritius which is a big cane sugar producer and when the waiter
put the sugar bowl with "Dry Demerrara Sugar" and "Raw Sugar" in front
of me I was reminded of the recent discussions. FWIW, from the
packets, "Demerara is a golden sugar with a large sparkling crystal, a
crunchy, sticky texture and a rich aroma due to the presence of the
cane molasses enrobing each crystal." and for the raw sugar "This
granulated raw sugar retains all the rich flavor and the natural
elements intrinsic to the sugar cane". They are both about the same
color but the Demerrara crystals are perhaps a little larger (1 x 0.5
x 0.5mm approx) and more regular (the raw stuff looks ground). They
taste about the same. As for their use in beer, the local brew
(Phoenix) certainly has a lot of it in it and is, IMO, pretty good
stuff.
A. J.
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Date: Sun, 1 Feb 2009 11:05:49 -0600
From: John Kleczewski <john.kleczewski at gmail.com>
Subject: 11th Annual UKG Drunk Monk Challenge
The Urban Knaves of Grain announce that the Drunk Monk Challenge 2009
will soon be upon us! The competition is sanctioned by the American
Homebrewers Association, and is a qualifying event for MCAB and the
Midwest Homebrewer of the Year circuit.
The competition is scheduled for March 13 and 14, 2009, to be held at
Walter Payton's Roundhouse in Aurora, IL. As in previous years, the DMC
features the Menace of the Monastery, a special category consisting of
styles which are monastic in origin: Belgian Blonde, Dubbel, Tripel,
Pale, Strong Golden and Strong Dark Ales, as well as German Doppelbock.
Awards for all categories will be announced following the MOM and Best
Of Show judging. There will be 2 separate categories for BOS:
Beer and Mead/Cider. Rosette ribbons featuring our famous 'Drunk Monk'
will be awarded for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places for each category. Special
ribbons will be awarded for 2nd and 3rd BOS and MOM, and engraved plaques
will be the prizes for 1st BOS and MOM.
Of special note is that the winner of the Beer BOS will have the
opportunity to assist in the scaling up and brewing of their award-winning
recipe at Walter Payton's Roundhouse, of Aurora, IL. Please see rules
for details.
Drunk Monk Challenge entries are $7 for the first entry, and $5 each
additional entry. Menace of the Monastery entries are $5 each.
Entries will be accepted between February 28 and March 7.
There are several drop off locations in the Chicagoland area.
Entries can be shipped to:
The Drunk Monk Challenge,
c/o Walter Payton's Roundhouse - America's Brewing Company,
205 North Broadway, Aurora, IL 60505, ATTN: Mike Rybinski
NO DROP OFFS ALLOWED AT THIS LOCATION!
Full details, rules, entry forms, etc. can be found at the UKG website:
http://www.knaves.org/DMC/index.htm
Good luck and thanks!
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